


That Question About Life

by kim40twtw



Series: Civil War Inspired One Shots [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Adding this tag just in case, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Not Steve Rogers Friendly, Steve Rogers critical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 10:42:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13545675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kim40twtw/pseuds/kim40twtw
Summary: Inspired by a tumblr post.Warning: Steve Rogers critical and not Steve Rogers friendly.





	That Question About Life

“This job, we try to save as many people as we can,” Steve said, looked at Wanda earnestly, “sometimes that doesn't mean everybody, but, if we can't find a way to live with that, next time... maybe nobody can be saved.”

Just before Wanda could say anything, Vision phased through the wall of Wanda’s room, startling both Wanda and Steve. The two turned to look at Vision.

“Vis, we talked about this.” Wanda said, a mixture of fondness and disapproval in her voice.

“Yes. But the door was opened so I assumed...” Vision seemed to trail off for brief moment, but then immediately composed himself to announced what brought him here, ”Captain Rogers wished to know when Mr. Stark was arriving.”

Steve nodded and stood up, ready to head for the conference room, Wanda remained still for a some time before following Steve’s lead and stood up as well.

When Steve was about to leave Wanda’s room, he unconsciously casted a glance at Vision who was standing by the door.

He noticed that Vision was looking at him...oddly.

Wanda brushed passed them and went down the hallway, when she noticed neither Steve nor Vision was moving, she turned around and send the pair a questioning look.

Steve smiled and motioned her to go ahead, the young woman nodded and continued down the hallway to the conference room.

“Are you okay, Vision?” Steve turned back to look at the Android, “ you seemed...confused.”

“Indeed I am,” Vision confirmed, “I did not mean to pry on the private conversation between you and Wanda, yet I could not help but to catch the last bit of what you said to Wanda.”

“It’s fine...but what were you confused about though?” Steve scratched his head, not sure where this conversation was going.

“About the part where you said that sometimes superhero could not save everyone, and needed to find a way to live with that, in order to continued saving people.” Vision answered in a calm tone, “I assumed this was about the incident in Lagos last month, is that correct?”

“Yes.” Steve nodded and wait for Vision to continue.

“While I do agreed with what you said, I found that it does not apply to the situation in Lagos,” Vision stated bluntly, “people were hurt, and even dead in Lagos not because you could not save everyone, but as a result of your carelessness.”

Steve was stunned by Vision’s words, he had never heard the Android spoke harshly like this.

“What do you mean by that?” Steve cleared his throat and asked.

“After you and the team returned from Lagos, I have listened to recounts of the incident from each one of you who were involved that day. Apparently you were in Lagos for another matter, and the encounter with the terrorist Crossbone was a coincidence,” Vision explained, “so when you decided to charge in and apprehend Crossbone, you have virtually no intel on his motive and goal.”

“And that’s why we have to make a move quick , we didn’t know what would happen—“ Steve rushed to explain, but Vision held up a hand to motioned him to be silent.

“And by doing so, you initiated a fight in the middle of a populated area, endangering countless civilians, eventually resulted in heavy casualty,” Vision spoke once again, his tone contained a hint of coldness, “Even if you did not know it was Crossbone, you did have a source confirming that there were suspicious activity in the area, yet you did not alert the proper authority, to ask for their collaboration.”

Steve didn’t know what to say, he had to admit that he and the team were reacting, not acting, in that day. It was a failed mission by all accounts, it was understandable why the public and the government were upset, but they already knew they made a mistake, so there was no meaning in keep talking about it.

“Eventually, Crossbone decided to detonate a bomb on himself, and Wanda failed to contain the bomb, which resulted in death and injuries.” Vision said.

“She did her best.” Steve felt a rush of anger at how Vision could say such a thing so casually, when everyone knew how much this had affect Wanda.

“I know,” Vision stated firmly, “and I do not blame her for any of it.”

“Then why are you talking about all this?” the anger died down a bit, but Steve began to feel frustrated at this meaningless conversation about what already happened.

Vision took his time to looked Steve, seemingly studying him, before speaking again.

“I find your attempt at comforting Wanda by brushing off the casualty disturbing.” Vision finally said.

“What!?” Steve gasped.

“Few minutes ago, you told Wanda that not everyone can be saved, that people who worked as superheroes must find a way to live with that” Vision replied.

“It will not do any of us good if we keep cling onto what already happened.” Steve stated, hoping Vision could understand his reasoning.

“Yes, but normally when a superhero made a mistake that result in serious consequences, he or she tend to review the event and try to figure out where did things go wrong, and how to improve in the future. Similar things can be seen in both military and law enforcement agency as well. However, I did not see any form of introspection on you, in fact, you seemed to be urging for everyone to stop discussing this incident and...just get over it, so to speak” Vision said.

“It was failed mission, everyone who was there that day knew that, there is no use in keep talking about it,” Steve defended, “and it’s unfair for people to blame Wanda like that.”

“And it is unfair of you to deny people of their right to talk about something simply because you disagree with it,” Vision countered, “while it is media’ tendency to be overly cruel and harsh, their arguments and opinions were not without any reason. I will said it once again, I do not think Wanda is to blame, but the fact remained that she was directly involved in this matter, therefore she still held a certain amount of responsibility for what has transpired.”

“She already feel bad enough, no need to make her feel worse.” Steve explained.

“Indeed, but your method of comforting her by brushing off what happened is unfair to those who were affected,” Vision said, “I understand your intention of comforting Wanda and trying to carry on, but claiming that casualty is unavoidable and therefore, acceptable, seemed unfitting especially when the casualty was the result of your own carelessness.”

“But why kept talking about something that had already happened and can’t be changed?”

“By continued discussing and reviewing, new perspectives tend to surface, thus pointing direction for future improvement.”

“If we keep mauling over past mistakes, how can we focus on helping people in the future?”

“Yet the loss of life should never be taken lightly, every existing life hold infinite possibilities, every existing life has the chance to amount to something great. Valuing life is not a weakness, and disregarding it is not strength.”

**Author's Note:**

> Quote used in the fic:
> 
> “Valuing life is not a weakness, disregarding it isn’t strength” by Mirage from The Incredibles (2004).
> 
> I saw a post on tumblr that compared what Mirage said to what Steve told Wanda when he was trying to make her feel better, basically the OP disagreed with what Steve said and suddenly I get an idea to write about.
> 
> Some explanation:  
> I don’t think Steve’s beliefs are wrong, I just think they don’t fit with his actions and the narrative of the movie, so that’s why I can’t support Steve in the movie. As for Wanda, I don’t think she is the one to blame for Lagos, but she was still partially responsible for it, while I think the media are probably very unkind to her, but they do have some point about her, or the Avengers as a whole, didn’t have any authority to operate in foreign countries, plus they didn’t even notify the local law enforcement....
> 
> Last but not least, constructive criticism is always welcome!


End file.
